Yeah, I did it myself. But I wouldn't do it again. I just happened to paint my daughters bike as well so I figured I do them both at the same time. I have an HPLV gun that I used for woodworking but this time I just went with spray can Rustoleum. Coarse grit dry sound paper to take off the old paint and then some 320 grit wet sand. Color coats were Rustoleum from Home Depot and then some light sanding in between coats. Last coat was gloss clear coat on the blue, flat coat on the black.

The painting is easy part. Its the bike disassembly and sanding that's the most time consuming.

I had the luxury of a sand blast cabinet to strip my r20 before my rattlecan job. (pics in another post with more to come) it made the base coat stick alot beter than i could have hoped for. i don't think i would have tackled painting it otherwise. Fine job btw.

ogeluv: Is the sand blasting pretty messy? I do some light woodworking so I may look into it.

neilfein: Thanks!

kequoquinness: I have a Curve that's pretty cluttered as well. dual lights, computer, bags in the back and klickflix basket in the front. Best of both worlds. The speed P8 decked out is probably a mean looking bike.

the sand blast is an enclosed cabinet so its not messy. since you're into wood you should be able to build one from plans. or you could just use the blast nozzle in the open but aside from makin a mess it would waste the media. i would also suggest calling a few body shops and find one thats willing to do your frames. one near my house does whole cars for about $1000 (someday my 66 charger will be there) and another advertises that they do lawn chairs and other stuff. shouldnt cost much as a bike frame is only bout a ten minute job.

SAndblasting bike frames
I speak from own experience ...here .. having destroyed a couple frames .. This is NOT as easy as it looks like. A maschine shop or Car place has NO IDEA how thin the tubes of a bicycle frames are.....It needs a special medium and a lot of experience to do it right..... Thats one reason professionals who are specialized for bike fraames are expensive as they are ( but worth every penny )

Thor

f course I " blew through " a reynolds 752 and a Columbus SL frame at the time .... Our foldies are susbstantially thicker ..

having worked in an industrial setting and being an experienced welder from brazing thick cast iron to tig welding thin aluminum I've never come across any material that media blast destroyed or blew through. and as far as an auto body shop not knowing how to strip thin stuff. the sheet metal of a car can be easily warped beyond repair by using improper media or inexperience. but were talkin bikes here. on my r20 i used a rather coarse silica sand an it came out beautifully. for more delicate work you can use a finer media like walnut shells or even glass beads and even special baking soda. everyone has got something that works for them and thats what works for me. but like i said i've been working with all types of metal for over 14 years and just started messing with my r20 a few months ago.